Young people in Bradford are having ‘bring your own canister’ laughing gas parties, a youth worker has claimed.

Nitrous Oxide (N2O), which is also known as ‘hippy crack’ and 'nitty', is a gas sold in canisters and commonly used in the medical and catering industry.

Sold for a cheap price on social media and in shops, it is increasingly being misused by those looking to get high.

Sharat Hussain, founder of Mary Magdalene CiC, is seeing the gas’ devastating impact on the city’s communities first-hand.

What began as a battle to clear the small silver vials from the streets has become even harder as drug-users dabble with larger bottles of gas.

This week alone, Sharat has taken away a small stash of empty Nitrous Oxide bottles littered around the Manningham area.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Sharat Hussain stands in Mary Magdalene CiC - a former church turned into a youth centreSharat Hussain stands in Mary Magdalene CiC - a former church turned into a youth centre

He has reignited calls for the Government to tighten up the laws on possession and sale of N2O and classify it as a drug.

Following cannabis, N2O is now the most used drug among 16 to 24-year-olds in England.

Sharat said: “This needs to be stopped now. This needs to be changed now.

“This is a battle we’re going to carry on fighting.

“Young people are concerned massively. They’re getting peer pressured into using Nitrous Oxide if they’re out with friends. People are selling it on social media, on Facebook or Snapchat. There’s a Snapchat with a Smartwhip on it. People have accounts doing a delivery service.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus:

“People are using this at parties. They’re having a ‘Nitrous Oxide TikTok party’. There was a few I’ve seen on TikTok where they’re doing this as ‘Bring your own canisters’ and they’re high as a kite.

Read more on Nitrous Oxide: 

“It’s a cheap, accessible drug where it’s legal and the law says you can’t get charged for it as it’s not classed as a drug. You can sell it from cars, shops, whatever else, and there’s no impact whatsoever.

Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Sofia Buncy MBE, national co-ordinator at the Khidmat Centre, and Sharat Hussain, youth worker at Mary Magdalene CiC, at the start of their campaign in June 2020Sofia Buncy MBE, national co-ordinator at the Khidmat Centre, and Sharat Hussain, youth worker at Mary Magdalene CiC, at the start of their campaign in June 2020

“Until we change the classification of this, the law, they’ll be able to take action. What people could do is ring an anonymous line saying, ‘I’ve got a set of lads in their car under the influence’ and the police will come and arrest these people.

“I must have, in my centre, a big box of canisters. I’ve got so many gas canisters, I pick them up from outside my centre, people who sit and gas themselves to death, drive their cars.

“There was six in a row, I thought there must have been a big party here. The issue is, I’ve got five schools on my doorstep. I’ve got all the young people walking past, people thinking ‘What is this?’.”

Read more on Nitrous Oxide: 

Will Nitrous Oxide use be made illegal?

Ministers could move to criminalise possession of N2O - unless someone has a “legitimate reason” to have it – and ban it from general sale.

A review - requested by the then-Home Secretary Priti Patel in September 2021 - is currently underway by the UK-wide independent advisory council on the misuse of drugs. 

The British Compressed Gases Association is among those calling for a ban on all consumer sales.

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